Author name – Daniel Kelly
Book title – The Fall Of The Phoenix
The Fun Quotient
Q.1 Tell us a little about yourself that not many of us know.
A. My name is Daniel Kelly, I grew up about as far north in Donegal, Ireland as you can go without falling into the Atlantic ocean, within a couple of hundred yards of Doe Castle which inspired both my imagination and love of history!
Q.2 If not an author, what would you have been?
A. Actually, I’m working as a chef as my daytime job, while I write during the evenings and weekends. While in college, I had internationally represented Ireland as a chef in various competitions.
Q.3 What do your fans mean to you?
A. Fans are everything, without them, there is no book. I have won two awards for my book, but even then there is no better feeling than waking up to see a new review of my book on a website or Goodreads, where somebody enjoyed reading my book or when somebody contacts you to tell you they did.
Q.4 What is your favourite genre, book, and author?
A. That’s a very difficult question as I would have quite an eclectic taste and have read quite a lot. But especially at the moment as I am actually reading an early release ARC of what has recently become one of my favourites in a genre, I normally don’t like which is modern urban fantasy and that ARC is paternus by Dyrk Ashton, which is amazing and based a mixture of all the mythologies of the world mixed in a modern setting. I also love Historical fiction and fantasy as my usual favourite genres of book, with people like Christian Cameron, Ben Kane and Conn Iggulden being some of my favourites, or in fantasy, Tom Lloyd, Mark Lawrence etc, but if I had to pick it would probably be a toss up between Tom Lloyds Stormcaller in fantasy or Christian Camerons Killer of men in Historical Fiction.
Q.5 If you could be a character from a book for just one day who would you be and why?
A. An interesting question, my favourite books are very often quite violent, so being the characters would be quite a scary experience but I think probably Tom Lloyds, the stormcaller character, the huge white eye, Isak Stormcaller.
The Author phase
Q.6 How did you come up with the name of your book?
A. My book is based on the fall of the city of Troy and was intended to continue to the rise of Rome. The symbol of Rome has always been the mighty eagle which led all of its legions of soldiers, but I thought, what if that was a mistake, what if the symbol of Troy was the Phoenix so when it rose again over Rome, it was like a Phoenix rising from the ashes? That would make the fall of Troy, the fall of the Phoenix!
Q.7 Describe the journey of writing your book — The Fall of The Phoenix
A. My book took me quite a long time to write, I think nearly eight years, though a lot of that was starting and stopping, I think I actually scrapped the first three versions I wrote when I decided they were not good enough. That combined with the fact that I already work seven days a week most weeks made writing a very slow process and something I did for my own love of the story and the topic much more than every thinking I would be successful.
Q.8 How did you select the names of your characters in your book?
A. I was very lucky writing, in that the story of troy is already one of the oldest stories in Europe, and although it’s a cross between historical fiction and mythology, most people would already know the original story so most of the character names were already there in history for me. I only had to add a few of my own around them.
Q.9 What is that one piece of advice do you wish you’d had when you first started writing?
A. Writing is hard. Not the stories, they are already inside the authors head begging to get out, but the discipline required to sit at the computer every day and get it down on paper so to speak. To avoid being distracted and playing on your phone constantly. To focus on your work.
Q.10 What advice do you have for the upcoming budding writers?
A. Believe in yourself. If it’s the story you want to write, then write it. Don’t write because you think you should, don’t write because someone tells you some other topic would be more popular. If you are not writing the story which is bursting to get out of you, people will know it from your writing. It is not a particular subject that sells. It’s the passion you have for that subject which comes through when you write your story.
Q.11 Where do you get your ideas of writing?
A. Ideas come from everywhere and nowhere. When you are watching something on tv and you joke, “Yea but if this happened wouldn’t it be amazing” or when you are joking with your friends. Those little ideas are the building blocks of something amazing. Never discard an idea you think would make a great story. It might take years, you might never get the chance to write it, but you could make something incredible.
Q.12 Did you face any difficulties while penning down your book?
A. I think most authors find the most difficult thing is believing in yourself. This may seem simple, but we spend most of our time in a room alone looking at a computer screen. And when it comes to letting something you have written into the real world, that has become a very real part of your life. Mine for example took nearly eight years of writing and rewriting. That’s eight years of my life, and it’s scary that someone can come along, look at it for five minutes and tell you that you have wasted eight years. That you have wasted that much of your life.
Q.13 Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with negative feedback?
A. Yes, we are told that we shouldn’t, that reviews are for reader to decide if they want to read it, but I like to know what readers thought of my work and I will always try to acknowledge everyone who reviews it. To thank them for their time. When I get negative feedback, I rip the book apart in my head and immediately start trying to rewrite it, but its very important to accept, that no matter how good a piece is, you will never please everyone. There is someone out there giving Tolkien a one star review for Lord of the Rings, because books are all about personal taste.
Q. 14 Where do you hope to take your writing in the future, especially now since the lock down is in place? What measures are to be taken to get more readers to read your book?
A. The writing landscape has completely changed over the last couple of months, with shops being closed, the market has moved to being almost entirely digital. Ebooks are almost completely dominant. I don’t think paper books will ever die out as there is something nice about holding it, but it does mean that all marketing must by necessity be digital since we can’t do any book signings etc. Social media and advertising have become increasingly important, as are reviews in places like Amazon and Goodreads, so please always try to remember to leave a few words for the books you loved.
Q. 15 What do you do to unwind and relax?
A. I actually use writing to relax after working in the kitchen as a chef every day, but I also like swimming and going out for a drink with friends when I get a chance.
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Megu's blog - A born writer, whose thoughts flow depends on her mood swings! 